T2L regional gatherings hit the mark!

Gatherings of T2L mentees and mentors from Cohorts 1, 2 and 3 were recently held in Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver and Toronto. They provided unique opportunities for mid-career and senior leaders in the cultural sector to explore together the challenges and opportunities they are facing as they lead the sector into the 21st century. Here are comments from Cohort 3 participants which point to the value of these gatherings and of the broader T2L programme.

I have established a strong relationship with my mentor with numerous phone calls, emails and meetings. The mountain of resources that I have received in the HR toolkit, PDF documents and webinars has been invaluable in assisting me with finer details regarding human resource management. Having a direct relationship with my mentor has allowed me to ask specific questions in areas that I am struggling with and fosters an environment where I can focus on specific goals. This program has offered me the opportunity to further my knowledge in management specifically in the cultural sector, which has its own unique set of challenges.

At the T2L gathering I met like-minded professionals from all over the province. Once discussions began, I realized that the issues that I have been struggling with are the same issues we are all having. I have always felt isolated with my problems and thought that my resources were limited. With the program I have found a whole new network of resources in people that are not only looking for support, but offering their knowledge and assistance as well. I no longer feel like an island all by myself but now am part of a greater team. I cannot explain how important that is to me with so little resources available to me in the past.

STATS CAN releases new provincial/territorial data

Key Findings

The latest results from the Provincial/Territorial Cultural Indicators (PTCIs) reaffirm the importance of culture in Canada: it generated $53.1 billion in GDP in 2017, having grown 16.0% since 2010, and supports approximately 666,474 jobs.

Culture GDP in Canada increased 1.8% to $53.1 billion in 2017. During the same period, economy-wide GDP increased 5.7%. As a proportion of Canada's overall GDP, culture accounted for 2.7%. Culture GDP rose in eight of nine domains, including sound recording (+7.2%), audio-visual and interactive media (+2.4%) and visual and applied arts (+1.7%). Written and published works (-1.9%) reported the sole decrease, as all but one of its sub-domains declined in 2017.

Culture jobs in Canada increased 1.6% to 666,500, while economy-wide jobs grew 1.9% in 2017. Culture accounted for 3.6% of all jobs in the economy. The audio-visual and interactive media (+3.1%) and visual and applied arts (+3.3%) domains each accounted for an increase of over 4,700 jobs. Culture jobs in live performance also increased 2.4%, while they decreased in written and published works (-2.7%), sound recording (-0.6%) and heritage and libraries (-0.3%).”

A reminder about the Canadian Satellite Account (CSA): The CSA is an accounting framework developed to measure the economic importance of culture, the arts, heritage and sport to the Canadian economy. It allows governments, stakeholders, professional organizations, and industries who use statistics to understand and express the value of these sectors relative to the rest of the economy.

CHRC is a member of the Cultural Statistics Strategy Consortium (CSSC) which includes the Department of Canadian Heritage, provincial and territorial governments and agencies, and some non-government organizations.

The consortium partners are:

Canadian Heritage

Provincial and territorial departments of culture and heritage

Canada Council for the Arts

Library and Archives Canada

Telefilm Canada

Cultural Human Resources Council

Ontario Creates

Ontario Arts Council

Creative City Network of Canada and all of the participating municipalities

BC Alliance for Arts + Culture

Respectful Workplaces in the Arts – Phase 2 Workshops

With Phase 1 of Respectful Workplaces in the Arts under our belts, the work on Phase 2 has begun. In the first year of RWA we developed several tools and resources to help employers and cultural workers navigate the often uncharted waters of harassment complaints and investigations. In the coming months 18 selected individuals from the sector (12 in English and 6 in French) will go through a training session with HR professionals, learning to develop and deliver workshops on harassment.

They will draw on the tools and resources available on the RWA website. With guidance on design and delivery of the workshops on harassment that they develop, the trainers will become a kind of “SWAT team” of experts on dealing with harassment in arts workplaces. Over the next year, they will deliver pilot workshops, fanning out across the country, seeding the sector with this vital information, and empowering cultural workers and employers to tackle harassment and build respectful workplaces.

The training with the HR experts will be over May and June. More on how you can line up one of these workshops will be available in the coming weeks.

LMI Study penultimate draft to be reviewed by Steering Committee and Advisory Committee

After extensive data collection and analyses, a cross sector survey that was in the field for 3 months, focus groups in almost every province and territory, and many interviews with key stakeholders, we are on the home stretch of the 2019 Labour Market Information Study of the cultural labour force. We will have interesting hard data to share, and we will have insights into the realities of life in the cultural sector with its challenges and opportunities. One of the very important aspects of this Study is that raw data taken from existing Statistics Canada surveys and the Cultural Satellite Account will be balanced with insights from employers and cultural workers to make sure the messages of this LMI Study ring true on the ground. Data so often don’t tell the whole story.

On June 18, members of the Steering and Advisory Committees who have helped guide the Study over these past months, will meet in Toronto with the Conference Board (the consultants) to review their findings and recommendations and offer final comments and suggestions. The full study will be released in September with communication rollouts in cities across the country.

A PATAC report: Creative Manitoba has launched an “Artists’ Registry”

At our quarterly conference calls with PATAC partners (Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee) we share “the good the bad and the ugly” about what is going on in the cultural sector across the country. These exchanges give us a snapshot of the state of culture from coast to coast to coast. They also give rise to collaborations as different parts of the country face similar challenges and can share their learnings. From time to time we’re glad to pass on bright initiatives that will be of interest to all our members. Creative Manitoba’s “Artist Registry” is one of those.

Creative Manitoba is “calling all artists” to establish a registry of who is doing what kind of creative activity and where. This will give an understanding of the arts economy and ecology in Manitoba - what kind of income artists are making from their art, what additional jobs they hold outside of their creative work, and what issues they face. Creative Manitoba will use the results to gain a deeper insight into the creative community; to map the data and identify creative hubs, define strengths and weaknesses, and use that intelligence “to make Manitoba a place for where artists can thrive and prosper”.

Here is the pitch

“It is time to stand up and be counted as an artist or creative practitioner in Manitoba. While “official statistics” boast of a large creative class in Manitoba, we know for certain that many artists are working under the “official” radar and have never been properly counted or accounted for. We are attempting to change this narrative, but need your help to accomplish this. Creative Manitoba is distributing a very brief survey that should take you no more than 5 minutes to complete and your results will be kept 100% confidential. The intent of the survey is gain a better understanding of the underground arts economy and ecology – your participation in this survey will help us make Manitoba a place where artists can grow, thrive and prosper.”